Turtle roadkill

As I commute to and from work, I drive along the Wolf River.  Sometimes I see that a turtle has been run over and killed.  I never like to see road kill.  It shocks and saddens me.  Over time, I have come to the conclusion that these untimely deaths are a message from the Lord that we are all mortal and it is best to be right with Him because we never know when our time will be up.

The strangest road kill is turtles.  To actually run over a slowly crawling reptile, a driver must really be inattentive.  The person must have been impaired, sleepy, or of poor eyesight.  People!  Please pay attention!  If you can't dodge a turtle, you may want to take yourself off the road.

To-do list

I am currently writing a list of my daily, weekly, and monthly things I need to do.  Once those lists feel complete, I intend to look it over and filter it by these three criteria.

Can I eliminate it?  If there is anything on the lists that I don't need to be doing at all, I should scrub it from my schedule.  Maybe I feel the need to do something.  Or maybe it has been a habit for a long time.  I may need to let it go and strike it from my list.

Can I delegate it?  If there are things on my lists that others could do better, I need to hand those tasks over to them.  It maybe that I need to pay someone to do those things.  I need to be willing to give up that money in order to free up my time to do more important things.

Can I quicken it?  When my list of to-do's has been shortened and cleaned I then need to examine those things that remain and see if I can speed up any of them.  Maybe there are steps that could be eliminated.  Maybe I could make a concentrated effort to get a number of them completed in a short period of time.

My hope is that I can make my essential list my highest, most needful, most impactful items to accomplish.  I also want to free up time so that I can have more of it to spend building relationships, resting, and thinking of ideas.

Cringes

I was recently listening to the CD that comes with every issue of Success magazine.  In there, the publisher Darren Hardy, was talking to an author who said we are living in an age when people have many options.  But they don't know what to do next.  She suggested that we write out everything we have to do and then go over that list.  When going down the list, note how your body reacts.  Does it cringe and tense up or does it relax, feel free, and feel hopeful?

So in response here are some things that make me cringe.
 
1.  Meetings.  Especially where I may have to be spontaneous or cleaver.
2.  Being on stage, giving a speech.
3.  Washing dishes.
4.  Attending social gatherings.  Where people have surface conversations.
5.  Opening a letter from the insurance company which likely contains a bill.
6.  The moment that I remember that I forgot to bring a gift.
7.  Being confronted by someone who claims I did something wrong when I didn't.

Gadgets

Why are gadgets so interesting?  I think it has something to do with what they allow you to do.  A gadget expands your ability.  It gives you greater power.

A gadget is also engaging.  It asks to be figured out.  In a sense it is a puzzle.  It holds a promise and it wants to be used for its purposes.

I like gadgets and I find them somewhat addictive.  My wish list has a number of gadgets that I hope to bring into my life very soon.  

Recent re-fi

Recently we refinanced out house.  The motivation to do so came from a Dave Ramsey podcast.  In it he essentially said, "For those who haven't re-financed, I don't know what you are waiting for.  There is some evidence that we have reached bottom on rates and that things will begin to go up from here."  For some reason, his few words motivated me to action.  I asked my wife to set up an appointment.

We choose to go with a local credit union.  They have been advertising low rates and a 10 and done scenario.  The process was super clean and I respect this organization because of how they handled the whole thing.

Our upfront cost was $500, which we paid out of our checking account, and then a $70 filing fee.  I choose to look at that money as a house payment.  They would not allow us to role those expenses into the loan.

We lowered our rate by 1.475%, took 3 years off the loan, but added $40 to our monthly payment.  These are numbers I can live with.

My ultimate goal is to live in a house that is completely paid for.  I see this re-fi as a step toward that goal.